Rising Evil
by Gail On The Road Of Life
Summary: After another Beast incident, our favourite animorph is forcibly removed from the Titans. But when an old enemy makes a reappearance, things begin to spiral out of control. And who is this new hero that looks like their fallen teammate? WARNING: MATURE THEMES, read at own risk. Pairings: BBRae XStar
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Here's another BBRae fanfic that I would like to share with the world.  
For the most part the characters are the same, other than them being in their late teens (Nightwing: 20 years old, Starfire: 20 years, Cyborg: 22 years, Raven: 19 years, and Changeling: 18 years) at the start of the story.

I have also added a couple of characters from a fictional story that I am writing called Eldrid (18 years when introduced) and Nidhogg (23 years when introduced). They will introduced in later chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans

* * *

**Prologue**

All was calm within the large T shaped building on a lone island in the middle of a bay.

The citizens of the city that the island was on the coast of would tell you of all the wonderful deeds the residents of the tower have performed in their day-to-day job of protecting the city.

The Titans leader Nightwing, formerly known as Robin, had given the team the night off, allowing him to take his girlfriend, the Titan's resident Alien Starfire, on a date. Cyborg had been given time to see Bumblebee and the Titan's East a couple of days ago.

This left the tower in the capable hands of Raven, the Titan's half-demon sorceress, and Changeling, the Titans' animorph -formerly known as Beastboy- for the night.

Only one room had light coming from it's large windows.

The Tower's common room.

Both Titans were sitting on the couch, doing what they normally did to pass the time.

Mega Monkeys X was being played by an oddly serious green hero, while Raven stared into the pages of a book she had started early in the week.

And the volume of the Gamestation had been turned down real low.

'Player defeated,' the game's announcer… well, announced.

Raven could hear a faint mumbling coming from Changeling as the green hero got of the round couch to switch off the Gamestation.

"You don't mind me leaving you in charge of the tower, do you?" Changeling asked, turning to the cloaked figure still on the couch.

"If you want, you can go," Raven replied, her empathic abilities picking up a faint trace of stress emitting from the green eighteen year old, "I'll be fine."

Changeling nodded, turning towards the common room doors.

"I'll be back in about fifteen minutes," he informed the half-demon.

"I said I'll be fine," Raven replied, turning a page in her book, "Just go before you snap."

Changeling nodded again, leaving the common room to the sorceress.

Feeling his stressed aura leave, Raven sighed loudly to herself.

She knew why Changeling was leaving; he had told her himself that he was having trouble controlling the Beast lately, and so she had offered to help. It started with trying to teach him simple meditation techniques.

And then trying to talk out his problems.

They had tried several other ideas, before finally settling on an idea that seemed to work the best.

Raven would sneak Changeling out of the tower at night so that he could turn into the Beast while in the forest near Jump City, letting him relieve the stress that built up with containing the Beast.

And then Nightwing and Starfire started going out on more and more dates, leaving the remaining Titans with more free time, allowing Changeling to sneak out on his own.

Sighing again, Raven continued to read her book.

_**TT~TT~TT**_

Twenty minutes had passed since Changeling had said he'd be back, and Raven was beginning to grow worried.

Adonis had recently escaped from prison, and the Titans hadn't been able to find him yet.

And if Changeling could access his Beast form, then there was a chance that Adonis could do the same.

**Thud!**

Raven turned towards the window in time to see a large creature latch onto the frame of said window.

The large creature definitely looked like the Beast; large muscular body covered in shaggy fur, with a snout that was like a cross between a canine's and an ape's. Even his fur was green.

But something was off about the green creature that was now pounding the window with its right fist.

Raven reached her empathic powers out to the Beast but quickly pulled back, mentally reeling as she took a step back physically.

That wasn't Changeling.

It was Adonis in his Beast form, covered in green paint.

Reaching for her communicator, Raven flipped it open and quickly called Nightwing.

"What's going on Raven?" Nightwing demanded.

Before Raven could respond, Adonis' Beast form tackled her to the ground, crushing her communicator with his fist.

As Adonis turned his gaze to Raven, the sorceress sent her soul self out in search of Changeling, hoping against all odds that Nightwing would be able to put two and two together and Changeling would be able to get back to the Tower in time.

**Crash!**

Another Beast smashed into the Beast that had been pinning Raven to the floor, both Beast smashing against the wall opposite the large windows of the common room, growling as they fought each other.

Raven tried to get to her feet so that she could help Changeling, but one of the Beast leapt towards her, the second following close behind.

The closest Beast slammed its right claw into her side, throwing her across the room and into a wall, where she fell to the floor and lost concinesuss.

The last thing she saw was the worried green eyes of Changeling's Beast form staring at her from the window that overlooked the bay, before he jumped outside.

_**TT~TT~TT**_

Raven awoke to find herself in the Tower's infirmary, medical equipment humming and beeping around her. She raised herself to a sitting position and quickly yanked off the wires that were attaching her to the equipment around her.

She needed to find Changeling and make sure that he was alright.

And explain what had happened before Nightwing did something rash.

Little did she know that she was already too late.

* * *

**A/N:** Hope ya'll all enjoyed that.

Please comment, fave/follow.

Yours truly,

Eldrid Ragnarok


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Okay, so I've got a pretty good idea as to what you are going to be thinking; why has Eldrid posted the same chapter again?

My answer is simple; I was going back and rereading what I had done in this chapter as a quick refresher as I write the next chapter, and I thought, 'I could probably make Gar's rant about Nightwing a bit longer and have it make a bit more sense.

Other than that though, the chapter is the same, so you don't really have to reread it unless you want to.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Falling Out**

"You what?" Changeling shouted at Nightwing.

The former Boy Wonder just stared at the green Animorph blankly. He was still dressed in the clothes that he had decided to wear for his date with Starfire. His mask was hiding any emotion that Changeling might have been able to see there.

Not that Changeling would need , or want, to see any emotion from his 'leader', who was wanted him gone.

"You heard what I said," Nightwing retorted, annoyance seeping into his voice, "We all saw what the security cameras saw; a green Beast attacking Raven."

"And then everything went to static!" Changeling shouted back, "I'm telling you that the Beast that attacked Raven wasn't me."

Nightwing continued to stare at Changeling with his stoic 'You're a criminal' face, something that the rest of the team had named without Nightwing's prior knowledge back when they were teens.

Not many villains enjoyed having Nightwing stare down at them with this look, and at the moment Changeling felt like he could relate to the many villains that they had put into jail over the years.

It wasn't a feeling that he enjoyed.

"You expect us to believe that?" Nightwing demanded, "Only you can transform into a green Beast."

Changeling felt hurt. He had been asked to see Nightwing shortly after he had returned from his date with Starfire. He had received Changeling's call - which had bluntly stated that the tower had been attacked and that Raven was in the infirmary - and had immediately gone to the tower's security tapes.

At the time, Changeling had been in his room trying to figure out what he was going to tell his leader.

"And I would never hurt Raven, you know that!" Changeling replied, a cold feeling settling in the pit of his stomach, "Right guys?"

Starfire and Cyborg, who had made best possible speed from Titan's East in Steel City upon receiving news that the Tower had been attacked, stood silently to the side, staring between their two friends as they fought.

Neither spoke.

Both were still in shock over the news of a second Beast incident.

And the results of said incident.

"Guys?" Changeling was slowly starting to dread what was coming. From his point of view, only two things could happen.

His friends kicked him out of his home.

Or they sent him to another team.

"Is it true?" Starfire asked, "You left the tower to do the 'taking out of stress'?"

Changeling looked at Starfire in surprise.

"I… I did…" Changeling answered, "But I had asked…"

"It doesn't matter if you had asked Raven if you could or not!" Nightwing interrupted, "The fact is that you left the Tower without my permission, and then tried to attack one of your own teammates."

"C'mon man," Cyborg said, suddenly coming out of his shock, "That's a little harsh."

Nightwing turned his glare on Cyborg, who shied away, finding a spot on the ground between his feet to stare at instead.

Nightwing turned back to Changeling, stretching out his hand towards the green hero.

"Your communicator Changeling," the team's leader stated, "Hand it over; now."

Changeling stared at Nightwing in disbelief.

"You… can't be…" Changeling stuttered, "You can't be serious."

He stared at Nightwing, trying desperately to find any hint as to whether his friend, his brother, was joking.

He found none.

"You are being serious," Changeling whispered, "Aren't you?"

Nightwing's glare didn't soften, if anything, it intensified tenfold.

"I want your communicator, and you out of the Tower and out of Jump city," Nightwing growled, "Changeling, you are no longer a Titan and are no longer allowed to communicator with any other Titan, Honorary or otherwise, as if you know who we are.

"You are to leave Jump City and are forbidden from returning to Jump or entering any other city protected by the Titans." Nightwing paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Because of your actions tonight, I can no longer call you a friend or a brother; not when you're attacking my sister."

"But I'm..."

Cyborg stepped forwards, and clamped his hand down on Changeling's shoulder.

"You're making this harder on everyone Green Bean," the cybernetically enhanced young adult stated, "If it helps any, I'll do whatever I can to make sure that Adonis stays where he belongs."

Changeling turned to stare at his robotic friend.

The former Titan wasn't shocked, that would have been an understatement. The green teen was now in a state of disbelief and hurt. He could understand Starfire's concern, she and Raven were as close as sisters, he could understand Cyborg's unwillingness to side with him.

But nobody was actually believing him.

"Changeling, if you don't leave willingly," Nightwing's voice was quiet, but that didn't mean it was any kinder, "I'll be forced to call the Police and have them take you to jail."

Changeling couldn't believe it; he was being kicked out because of the exact same reasons as when they had been teens and he had first turned into the Beast.

The Titan's leader didn't believe him.

"Please, friend Changeling," Starfire begged, "Please leave while you can."

With tears in his eyes, Changeling shakily removed his communicator from his belt and moved to place it in his former leader's waiting hand.

He stopped though, and instead of placing the device in Nightwing's hand, Changeling drew back his hand and threw the yellow communicator onto the floor.

"Here you go, Dick," Changeling growled, slamming his foot onto the innocent device, "You can have the pieces of the damn thing; you probably didn't want it anyway, not with it being a reminder that you were working with a criminal since we were teens."

Changeling turned away from the three stunned people that he had once called family and stormed out of the tower, not caring about any of the things that were in his room.

"Where's Changeling going?" Asked a monotonous voice.

Cyborg and Starfire slowly turned towards the side entrance to the common room, while Nightwing answered the question.

"He's leaving." Nightwing continued to glare at where the animorph had crushed his communicator. "Other than that, nobody knows but him. Not that we'd care about where he's going."

Raven stared at her leader, her mind trying to process what she had just seen and heard.

When she finally started to connect the dots, she turned towards the window of the common room, using her dark powers to float through the glass and out towards Jump City.

Only one thing was keeping her from losing control of her emotions completely.

'I can still talk to him.'

**TT~TT~TT**

'None of them believed me!'

Changeling was still fuming as he flew over Jump city, as a bald eagle, a city he had protected for so long from almost every kind of villain he could think of; from big and stupid, like Cinderblock, Plamus and Overload, to the Inter-dimensional Demon Trigon and his army.

And now he was going to be treated like one of them.

'All because Adonis had grown some brains and covered himself in green paint,' Changeling fumed, 'And Raven, who was there at the time, was knocked out; just my luck.'

Consumed by his thoughts as Changeling was, he failed to notice the dark form that shoot in front of him until he collided with it.

Soft hands gently, yet forcibly, pinned his wings to his body. Changeling cocked his head to the side, and saw two violet eyes staring back at him.

'Raven? What could she want?'

The violet eyed sorceress lowered herself to a nearby roof, staring into Changeling's eagle eye the whole time.

"If I let you go, do you promise not to fly away?" Raven asked once she had landed on the building, "I want to talk to you."

Changeling stared at Raven for a long time before nodding his head in agreement. Raven in turn released the Eagle form of the Animorph, who flew to the ground as he morphed back into his human form.

"Thank you." Raven stated, stopping as she watched her friend's back. "Changeling, I wan..."

"That's not my name," the animorph interrupted in a whisper, "Not anymore."

Raven nodded her head in understanding. Nightwing had crushed the spirit of her friend, when his actions had only been in her defence. Nobody could change the caped avenger's mind once he had made his decision.

And Nightwing had decided to remove the animorph from the picture.

Raven didn't know what to tell Changeling, being an empath was both a blessing and a curse. Usually it allowed her to know exactly what to say or do to make people around her feel better, but right now she was unsure what to do.

So she decided to hug the animorph, knowing that he would understand what she was trying to do.

"You don't have to go far," Raven whispered, relishing the feel of Changeling's toned abs against her arms, "You could stay in the forest, at least that way I... we can still see yo..."

"Whose we?" Changeling asked quietly, "Nightwing think's I'm a bad guy now, Starfire will agree with him because of her love for the dickhead, and Cyborg pretty agrees with 'Wing." A sigh escaped his lips as he looked down at Raven's arms. "Only you would willingly come see me, but that won't last long; Nightwing would find out one way or another. No, the only real option is for me to leave Jump City, possibly even America..."

The two heroes fell into a comfortable silence, where Raven pulled away from defeated teammate so that she could stand in front of him.

"Gar... if you do leave..." Raven trailed off, not liking where their conversation was taking them, "Can you do something for me?"

Gar turned to face Raven, his head inclined slightly.

Seeing that the animorph had yet again agreed, Raven opened a portal into her room, where she then removed three objects; the first was an ancient looking book, the second was a necklace, and the last was a mirror that was just like Raven's own meditation mirror.

"I want you to have these," Raven whispered, "I was going to give you the necklace and mirror to you on your birthday, but..."

Raven trailed off as she realised what she had been about to say.

Gar didn't seem worried in the least as he accepted Raven's gifts. "Thanks. At least I won't be completely forgotten."

"The mirror is like mine," Raven explained, "Just close your eyes while holding it and you'll appear inside your mind, letting you talk to your emotions and the Beast. The necklace has a spell on it that will keep you safe from most injuries and will warn me when you are dying..."

"And will let you teleport to me no matter where I am," Gar nodded, clasping the necklace around his neck, "It's nice to know that I've got my own Angel looking over me."

Raven was still holding the book to her chest, like it was the only thing keeping her grounded in reality.

"I don't like it," Raven pouted in a very un-Raven like way, "You didn't do anything wrong. I knew where you were and why, and you even came to my rescue when I called. Nightwing doesn't..."

"I did lie to the rest of the team about the Beast though," Gar replied, "When he became Red X, we forgave him even though he had almost torn apart the team. When he had thought Slade had returned, he lost and basically repeated his actions.

"And then when Slade returned, no thanks to your father, you went straight to Nightwing. When you had turned into the portal and let Trigon into this world, it was Nightwing that went after you. Hell, everyone trusts him to do the right thing."

Gar sighed, his tone softening as his defeated mindset finally broke to the surface.

"He might have helped me, he might have not, either way I should have told Nightwing that I was having troubles with it."

"You came to me though," Raven replied, "You asked for my help because you trusted me not to go to Nightwing because you didn't want to be sent away!"

"Like I'm being sent away now?" Gar asked, "It was bound to happen; I've never been allowed to have place to call home or people that I could call family for long."

Raven stared at her friend for a long time. He had gone through several growth spurts in his late teens, and had left Raven as the shortest member of the team.

That didn't mean that she couldn't see the glisten of tears as they rolled down Gar's cheeks. Raven stepped towards her friend, and lifted one hand to wipe away the tears that didn't belong on, at least she thought, was perfectly handsome face.

"I'll always be there for you," Raven told him, giving him a small smile, "Besides, I don't think I should be the only one that has a guardian angel."

Gar nodded, a small spark appearing in his eye as he pointed out the book still in Raven's arms.

"Hoping to read in the forest with me as company Rae?" Gar asked, "Is that why you suggested it as a place for me to hide?"

Raven shook her head, letting Gar use his nickname for her without correcting him, handing the book to the smiling green changeling.

"This is one of the books I brought with me from Azarath, my home dimension," she explained, "I thought it would be interesting to an animorph such as yourself."

"I don't..."

"Its a book of animals doofus," Raven smiled, not smirking, as she handed the book over to a grinning Gar, "A lot of them are part of myths and legends here on Earth, but you have a knack for ignoring rules when it means you can help others."

"I don't know what I can say," Gar replied, "I know this isn't the first time you've told me, nor any of the Titans, about your past but I feel like this is something..."

"Special? Unique?"

"Yeah."

A comfortable silence fell over the two, as they stared at the book in Gar's hands. For both it was something special; a piece of Raven's past, and a sign of the trust and friendship between her and Gar for the Animorph.

And then the sound of helicopter blades hit Gar's ears.

"I guess I should be going," Gar said, turning to leave.

"Wait," Raven ordered, "Just let me do something first."

Gar nodded, facing his only friend left in Jump.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," She muttered, her hands glowing with the black aura that accompanied the use of her powers, the book and mirror disappearing inside Gar's necklace, "Okay, I've created a storage spell within the necklace; all you have to do to open it is repeat my mantra once, then you can grab whatever you put in there."

"Thanks." Gar hugged Raven quickly, pulling away before she could react. "I'll be back, I promise."

With that, the green animorph ran to the edge of the roof and jumped off, morphing into a hawk as he fell.

Raven followed after him, stopping at the edge of the roof to see him land on another roof a little way down the street.

"I'll be waiting," Raven whispered, as she watched Gar's receding form dance across rooftops into the night.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, I probably deserve some flame for the mixed messages in this chapter, but I'm pretty sure most of you can figure out what's going on on your own.

I hope you liked this chapter, and if not, please tell me why.

Please review, and I'll see you next time

Yours Truly,  
Eldrid Ragnarok


	3. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_ Thanks to all that have read so far. For those that are wondering; I don't plan on killing BB off. No instead he is going to change quite a bit because of Nightwing kicking him out of the Titans (I'm not that cruel).

* * *

**Chapter 2: Disappearing**

Gar leapt from roof to roof, knowing that if he was to use on of his animal forms then he'd be spotted instantly.

It wasn't like there was an enormous amount of green animals living in Jump City.

He could still the sound of helicopter blades behind him as he quickly made his way towards the edge of town, yet he was undeterred. He needed to get out of the city before Nightwing changed his mind about giving him time to clear the city limits.

He was passing Jump City's bank, when he heard an explosion tear apart the entrance. He rushed to the edge of the roof he was on and spotted a purplish-grey werebeast launch itself out of the bank, closely followed by several security guards wielding large energy weapons.

'Adonis?' Gar did a double take, 'Why isn't he in jail. I thought I had...'

The sound of people in pain reached Gar's ears and he leapt off the building he had been standing on, landing on the street below in the form of a velociraptor. Adonis didn't seem to think that the appearance of the green dino was anything to worry about as he continued to attack the security guards that were shooting at him relentlessly.

Giving a fearsome roar, the green raptor charged forwards, morphing into a rhino just as he crashed into the opposing werebeast.

**ROAR!**

Now that Gar had Adoins' attention, he jumped into the air, morphing from human to eagle a moment before Adonis could get his claws around the shape-shifter.

Adonis leapt towards one of the nearby buildings, and began to climb upwards so that he could jump down on top of the annoyance that was the weak changeling.

Little did he know, Gar had been expecting the move and had moved into a position where he could drop on the unsuspecting villain in a larger form.

Gar knew that the only way to defeat Adonis' Werebeast form was to use his own. He didn't want to; it was the reason he had been kicked out of the Titans.

He knew he didn't have a choice though, and so he let his body run on one of its most primal instincts; defend his territory.

Morphing into his Werebeast, Gar dropped on top of Adonis, causing the purplish-grey werebeast to fall from the building and into the pavement below.

Turning towards the Werebeast form of his opponent, Adonis unleashed a deafening roar; a challenge that Gar returned in kind. The two Beasts charged at the other, Gar tackling Adonis into a car that was abandoned at the explosion from earlier.

Before Gar could go any further though, he felt a sharp pain rack his back. He collapsed, morphing back into his human form as Adonis threw his limp form aside to face this new, more challenging, threat.

"I know that he was kicked off the team, Night'," Cyborg growled at his leader, "But the least he deserves from us is some help."

"But friend Cyborg, you fired upon friend Changeling's Beast form," Starfire replied, starbolts glowing around her clenched fists, "how does that help?"

"It means that he is out of the way," Nightwing barked, "And we can deal with Adonis. Titans GO!"

The four remaining Titans split away from their starting position as Adonis tackled Cyborg, forcing the large man to the ground. Nightwing launched himself into the air, Starfire swooping down to catch her boyfriend and then swung him at Adonis.

Raven on the other hand had seen Gar collide with a car after Adonis had thrown his limp form off. She didn't know what damage had been caused, but she had felt a dull pain flare up from her spine as her shape-shifting friend had smashed into the vehicle.

"Get up Gar," Raven whispered sharply, tugging at the shape-shifter's hair, "Gar!"

She heard a groan escaped the changeling's lips. She quickly, yet gently, ran her hand down his back, her healing magic creating a lightish blue glow to consume her left hand. Once she had completed her task, she encased them both in a sphere of her magic.

They reappeared on a roof some distance from fight that was currently going on between Adonis and the Titans. Raven was worried about her teammates, but that worry paled in comparison to the concern that she had for her green friend.

"For Azar's sake Gar, wake up!" Raven's mouth had been in such a position that he left her friends ear ringing from her shout.

Gar shoot up into a sitting position, clutching his head between his hands as another groan escaped his lips.

"Thanks Rae," he grunted, twisting to face the sorceress, "I guess I owe you one now."

Raven gave the changeling a deadpan look as she replied with, "Just get out of town."

Gar gingerly climbed to his feet, turning to continue his escape, when he felt a soft hand tighten around his forearm. He turned to face his half-demon friend, only to stumble backwards as her body collided with his in a hug.

"Make sure you stay safe," Raven demanded, "As much as Nightwing doesn't want to admit it anymore; you're part of our family and always will be."

Raven released her hold on the shape-shifter, and stepped back as she turned her head to hide a tear that escaped her eyelids.

"I will come back; I promise."

Raven lifted her head in time to see Gar turning into a bird as he soared into the air. She smiled a small smile as she recognised the bird he had chosen; a raven.

**TT~TT~TT**

Gar had been flying for only a minute when he felt something stab his shoulder, throwing him out of the air. He crashed into the roof of a nearby house, morphing back into his human form. He reached behind himself and yanked the offending object out of his back and held it in front of him.

It was a needle.

Dropping the sharp object onto the roof, Gar got to his feet and began running across the roofs, hurtling over any gaps he came across as he started to approach a slightly higher section of the city.

'Must be nearing the docks,' Gar thought calmly, increasing his speed slightly.

He failed to notice the shadow ahead of him, or the red dot that was hovering over his right shoulder. When a bullet passed through his shoulder he noticed though, and stumbled slightly as he came to a stop.

After about a minute or two of heavy breathing, Gar looked up to see an uniformed figure approaching him, a sniper rifle slung across its back as a blade dragged across the cement of the roof.

"Are you Changeling of the Titans?" The figure demanded.

Gar grunted. "Whose asking?"

The figure knelt before the shapeshifter, bringing their face into what little light there was from their surroundings. The figure's face was angled, like a cat's, and their long hair was tucked behind elf-like ears in braids.

Their body was curvy and spoke of lethal abilities.

"The name's Ghost," Ghost replied, "part of a special task force called X-Squad; I'm sure you've heard of us, being a Titan and all."

"Might have," Gar replied, "You've got one thing wrong."

He had heard rumors of X-Squad from numerous different sources; The first from his time with Doom Patrol, and then numerous times by the Titans' cybernetic techno-wiz, and recently a lot of other Titans had been talking about them.

They all said the same thing though; X-Squad was a team of assassins hired by the UN to hunt down criminals that ordinary law enforcement couldn't handle and bring them to justice, by any means necessary.

"What's that sunshine?" Ghost questioned, a smirk playing at her lips.

"I'm not a Titan." Gar's body pivoted around his hands, bring Ghost's body down with his legs.

Gar lept to his feet as he sprinted towards the edge of the building, preparing to morph into the fastest airborne creature he could think of.

The echo of a grappling hook going off caused his ears to twitch before he fell to his knees, the rope of the device wrapped around his legs. He cut the rope with one of his claws, lept to his feet again, before being stopped by Ghost's sharp voice

"Don't jump," she commanded, "Unless you have a death wish, please don't move. I've injected you with a serum that's stopping you from using your powers."

If Gar didn't already hate Nightwing, then he definitely did now; not only had the stuck up decide that Adonis hadn't attacked the tower, but he was now going back on his promise to let his former teammate get out of the city.

The cherry that was sitting rather smugly on top was that Nightwing had called X-Squad on the shapeshifter's back.

"Why would you care?" Gar growled, turning to face his opponent. "If the rumors about X-Squad are true, then I'm gonna die in jail anyway."

Ghost slowly approached Gar like she was approaching a wounded animal. And with good reason, because Gar was a walking, talking, breathing, green zoo who had been attacked. She held her hands out in front of herself, having placed her sword on her back.

"The Boss respects you," Ghost explained calmly, "He wants to help you vanish."

"Why should I trust you?" Gar demanded, his eyes flashing dangerously, "I've already had one authoritative figure break his promise; I'm not just going to hand myself over."

"You've saved Jump City more times than people care to count," Ghost stated, changing tactics, "And you've saved the Earth on more than one occasion..."

Gar growled, lowering into a defensive position.

"All those times, the rest of the Titans were there," he retorted, "And they've gone through more than I ever have."

Ghost froze; her target didn't think highly of himself or what he had done for the city that had become enemy territory to him. She needed to find a way to renew his resolve. But how?

"If you don't come in quietly, I'll have to use force," Ghost stated tiredly, "And while I have a duty to bring you in, I don't believe you're a bad guy. If you let me, I can help you."

Gar didn't like this stranger pitying him. So he went on the offensive, striking at her stomach with his heel. Ghost was sent flying away from him, landing close to the edge of the roof they were standing on, as Gar jumped to his feet and launched himself over the edge of the structure.

Ghost groaned internally; her objective had gotten away.

"X-Squad One to X-Squad Gunship, do you copy?"

Ghost waited for the reply. X-Squad's gunship had been diverted to help with Adonis situation down at the bank.

But Adonis could wait; Gar was their target, and they needed to get him out of Jump City before something truly bad happened.

"X-Squad Gunship here," the pilot's voice was professionally calm, "What d'ya need Ghost?"

"Are you able to track Changeling."

There was a pause. "He's headed towards the Titan's Tower."

"Meet me at my current location," Ghost ordered, "We need to get Changeling before Nightwing does something stupid.

**TT~TT~TT**

His shoulder hurt like hell, and he was starting to lose all feeling in his legs. And yet Gar kept running. He knew that if he could at least get to the ocean, then there was a chance that he could escape X-Squad's clutches.

He could hear the sounds of rotary blades following him, but Gar didn't want to risk looking back. It was dangerous enough that he was heading towards Titans' Tower, he didn't need to make it look like he was scared of being followed.

The green shapeshifter spotted an alleyway between two stores and immediately jumped into it, diving out of sight of the approaching gunship.

Gar glanced out into the street as the quick moving helicopter. It had two large rotary blades close to the front of the chopper, just behind the cockpit. At the end of the tail, there was two smaller propellers that moved as the chopper turned from side to side.

To make matters worse, there was an open compartment where four uniformed figures were sitting; and one of them was Ghost.

Swinging back into the alley, Gar started to run towards the other side, when he noticed a door that was slightly ajar. Still unable to transform, Gar decided to take the option that was being given to him and dived inside.

Inside it was quiet.

Looking around, Gar noticed that he was in what looked like an office building's reception back room with large filing cabinets all around him.

The best part of it all, was that he could no longer hear the sound of the helicopter that had been chasing him, giving Gar a moment to rest; he hadn't had a chance to figure out how to escape X-Squad, let alone Jump City.

As he sat behind the door, leaning his head against it, hoping to think of a way out of his problem, he felt the ground shaking, and his sensitive hearing caught the sound of explosions nearby.

As in really close, nearby.

Then he saw the entire front section of the building he was inside collapse inwards; the helicopter hovering just outside the opening.

Swearing colourfully, Gar wrenched the door behind him open, and sprinted out of the office, only narrowly escaping another explosion that caused the rest of the structure to shudder, painfully close to collapsing there and then.

Running at full pelt to the end of the alley, Gar tried to morph into a falcon, succeeding in only cause pain to shoot through his body.

Keeping his direction mostly towards Jump City Harbor, Gar could feel the downdraft of the helicopter as he spun outwards and in his direction.

Closing his eyes tightly, Gar put everything he had into his race towards freedom.

**TT~TT~TT**

"He's getting away Boss," the lieutenant sitting next to Ghost grouched, "Why can't I just tear him apart?"

Ghost sighed, "Because the Boss doesn't want a mess to clean up; its bad enough that he have to take out a hero, he doesn't want it to look like we didn't care about who saw."

The Lieutenant exhaled dejectedly.

"I thought that Nightwing dude wanted it to look like our target was a villain that couldn't be taken out."

"Don't worry about what Nightwing wants, cause our job is to either bring Changeling in, or take him out," Ghost retorted, "Without creating a mess; something we've already screwed up."

The only noise that could be heard now was that of the helicopter's rotatory blades, as the four-man team inside the troop compartment kept their eyes trained for the green form that was their target.

"Spotted the poor sucker," one of the troops behind Ghost muttered, "He's headed for the docks."

"Makes sense," the man next to the one that had spotted their target replied, "He gets to the ocean, and we lose him in the big blue; he can disappear without a trace after that."

Ghost moved over to the pair, and unshouldered her sniper rifle, taking careful aim.

"Then let's help him out," Ghost interjected, "The Boss wants us to help him disappear; this is our only chance."

Setting her sights on the running form of the former Titan, Ghost gently exhaled, squeezing the trigger.

She knew her aim was true, as she watched the green teen jolt into the ocean, a cloud of red mist lazily floating to the edge of the docks.

"If we ever meet again, we act like we don't know who he is," Ghost barked, "Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the three other members of her squad replied.

'Make it to freedom,' Ghost thought briefly, "You of all people deserve it.'

* * *

_**A/N:**_ Okay, I know what you're probably thinking; Gar's as dead as dead can be. But if I did that, how could I get him and Rae together in this story? This event will change him though.

Next chapter will be a short filler, yet just as important to the story.

P.S. Before I forget, do you guys want a lemon? I've got one reviewer that keeps asking for a BBRae lemon, but I don't wanna do it if you, my readers, don't want it. Its up to you, and if you do want one, I'll do my best to make it a good one XD


	4. Chapter 3

_**A/N: **_If ya'll hate me, then I totally understand, but trust me when I say that things will get better, I promise.

This chapter is mostly a filler, sorta setting the scene for later on. I hope it'll all make sense, eventually.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Visionary Offer**

It was both warm and cold.

It didn't bother Gar much, except for when the cold swept over the rest of his body, sapping the warmth from his limbs like a parasite.

Jerking his eyes open, the green shapeshifter stared up into the bright, slightly cloudy, sky. He slowly pulled himself out of what he had identified the cold to be; salty ocean water. His legs were weak, and he had to remain on all fours for an undefined period of time before he could finally stand.

As he came to his feet, he glanced around at his surroundings.

He was currently standing on a beach. He didn't know where he was exactly, but he could tell that he had to be somewhere tropical.

"I see that you have arrived," a silk like voice spoke out, "Please, join me over here."

Gar didn't know where the voice had come from, but for some reason it felt familiar.

So unlike a sensible person, he walked towards the strange voice that had been calling out to him.

He walked for what seemed like ages; treading over sand dunes, and walking through the vines of a tropical island, until he came across a small clearing.

Within the clearing, there was a tall, silver haired, woman standing with her back to Gar. She looked like an angel; it was probably the easiest way for Gar to describe the the beauty of the strange woman.

"Do you know where I am?" Gar asked the woman, his ears twitching wildly as he tried to keep track of every sound around him.

"You are inside your mind," the woman answered jokingly.

"I doubt it," Gar replies, "I've been inside my mind before; it's more like the savannahs of Africa than a tropical island."

The woman turns to face Gar, and flinches at the sadness in her eyes.

"Minds change Garfield; some more than others," she replies half-heartedly, "But you are right; we aren't in your mind, but are in my own."

Gar nodded, before sitting down next to the strange woman.

"I have a friend that is a lot like you," she muttered sadly, "Or at least _he _has a friend that is like you; childlike innocence, always joking and looking on the bright side of life."

Gar thought about this for a moment. Not many people told him things like this, nor did they come across so positively. Though this one seemed sad.

"Sounds like a hell of a guy," Gar replied, his shoulders sagging, "What happened to him?"

"War," the strange woman replied.

Gar looked at her expectantly, but she didn't say anything else, leaving the green teen to stew in his thoughts.

'I remind her of someone that's been through a war.'

'She seems so sad about it, but I don't know how to help unless I can find out more about the problem.'

He paused for a second, before thinking, 'How do I do that, when she shut me down so easily?'

He stared at the silver haired woman for a moment, studying her profile for a long while as the wind passed through her hair, blowing it in all directions.

'It almost looks like Raven's hair,' Gar thought ideally, 'On the day that the world ended.'

It surprised him that such a strange person was able to remind him of one of his closest friends, but then there were a number of unusual things about this woman.

Like the flame she was now holding in her hand.

'Wait what?' Gar did a double take, staring at the silver flame that floated a centimeter above the silver haired woman's palm.

"You're wondering how I'm doing this," the strange woman stated, "Aren't you."

"Ho-how did you know?" Gar asked, shocked.

"I can read minds," she replied calmly, "Though I've taught myself not to; instead I rely on people's facial expressions and body language."

"So…" Gar began, trying to draw more out of her.

"You went rigid as soon as you noticed the flame," the silver haired woman explained, glancing carefully at the green changeling, "I you looked surprised, but not overly surprised; like you've seen something similar."

Gar nodded his head gently.

"A… friend, of my mine could use magic," Gar stated vaguely.

The silver haired woman stared at Gar, her gaze gently and understanding.

"Half-demons are strange creatures," she muttered, "Especially teenaged half-demons."

"How did…" Gar interrupted himself, "Right; you can read minds. Nevermind."

The silver haired woman smiled.

Then she looked passed Gar, causing him to follow her line of sight.

He found a large wolf-like creature standing there, staring back at him.

The thing was bigger than a wolf, but smaller than a werewolf; something that confused Gar, because it had a human look in it's eye. It's fur was normal either, in fact there wasn't any fur at all, instead it was black fire that covered the semi-visible beast.

"He is a friend," the silver haired woman spoke, placing a hand on Gar's shoulder, "He can stay."

The wolf seemed to understand, because he then melted back into tropical jungle. Gar turned back to the silver haired woman, a question forming on his lips.

She beat him to the punch, again.

"That's a soul shard of my friend's," she answered, "He developed the ability to leave shards of himself within the closest people to him. And I don't know how he does it, so don't ask."

Gar nodded his head.

"Why am I here?"

The silver haired woman sighed, as if she had known that this question was coming.

"You have a choice to make," she replied, her lips forming a frown, "By all accounts, you should be dead; but I've been watching over you for awhile, and so I've asked my friend to do me a favour for you."

"What's the choice?"

The silver haired woman sighed again. She turned to face him, her eyes speaking more than what she had.

"My friend's brother has struck a deal with a man from this world called Deathstroke," she explained, "Do you know him?"

Gar shook his head.

"Wears a mask that's half orange, half black?"

Gar turned his shaking head to a nodding head. "My old team used to call him Slade."

"_Your old _team?"

"I got kicked out by the leader," Gar explained solemnly, "Nobody stopped him."

The silver haired woman nodded her head, before continuing, "My friend needs help, and will save your life, if you join me at my school, and help him hunt the two down."

Gar frowned, staring at his hands.

"Why are you asking me? Nobody trusts me anymore."

"Because you have no more ties with the outside world," the silver haired woman replied, "Or at least you have no ties that require you to communicate with people on Earth."

Gar stared at the trees around him. He didn't know if he _wanted _to face the pain of remembering what his former team had done to him.

"What happens when I'm brought back?" he asked.

"Nothing."

Gar stared at the dirt between his knees.

"I'll remember everything that happened to before I died?"

"Yes."

"What will you teach me at your school?"

"I will teach you nothing; only help you harness your powers and reach your full potential."

That was the carrot.

'Wonder what the stick is…'

"And if I don't want to help?" Gar asked, turning to face the silver haired woman.

"You die."

She said it as if it wasn't a problem; but her eyes, like before, told a different story."

Gar sighed, before nodding his head.

"I'll do it."

The silver haired woman nodded her head, before placing her hand over Gar's heart.

"Then let life fill you once again."

**TT~TT~TT**

Gar woke with a start.

His body felt numb, but he could still move his limbs. Or at least he could move most of his limbs.

One shoulder screamed with pain, but he couldn't tell which one because of the numbness that was encompassing his body.

'Wonder how long it'll last,' Gar thought ideally, standing shakily to his feet.

He glanced around himself, and discovered that he was in a forest clearing. Sitting not far from him, was a set of clothes that looked like they would fit him, and a glowing black orb.

Taking a tentative step towards the pile, Gar reached down to snag the clothes, but must have triggered the orb, because it floated up to eye level, before morphing into the face of the silver haired woman.

"Gar, if you are getting this message, then you'll have noticed the pile of clothes and orb next to you," the stranger's head spoke in the same voice, but it didn't seem to move quite right. "When you are ready to attend my school, all you have to do is hold this orb and think the word 'Atlantis'. I hope to see you soon."

The orb slowly settled on the ground again, leaving Gar to stare at it in surprise. It was magic, he knew that much, but it wasn't like Raven's or Mumbo Jumbo's. It was a weird kind of magic.

Changing into the clothes that he had found, Gar proceeded to bundle up his old clothes, before pulling out a lighter he had found in the pocket of the shorts and lighting the clothes on fire.

He quickly chucked them into the center of the clearing and watched the uniform burn.

"Goodbye Beastboy; goodbye Changeling," Gar muttered sadly, his eyes lingering on the burning clothes, "I will avenge you, I promise you, and I will do whatever I can to get back to Raven so that I can look after her for you."

With that, Gar picked up the orb and placed next to the necklace, muttering, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," before feeling it being sucked into the necklace.

He fingered the necklace idly as he thought of which direction to go in.

He thought of Raven, and he felt the necklace suddenly tug at his hand, pointing out the best direction to go.

"A GPS?" Gar thought aloud, "Raven sure knows how to help when she's not around."

With that, the green animorph slipped off into the forest, heading for who-knows-where, and leaving a large portion of his past behind him, his former identities left to blow away in the wind as ashes.

* * *

_**A/N: **_Okay, if this doesn't make any sense, then tell me so.

I've got two things to tell you all;

1) There is a possibility of this story containing a lemon if I can find a place for it (and if not, then really heavy fluff between characters).

2) I've had a review from a guest (you know who you are) that has given me a heads up that this story is a lot like one called Return of a Titan, by rainthelingeringsentiment, and I'm going to be honest; I've read the story and really enjoyed it (you should be able to find it in my Favorite Stories on my profile). I suggest you read it.

I liked the idea of Beastboy being kicked off the Titans because of the Beast, and decided to use the idea. This story will take a different turn though, mostly because I don't like stealing other people's thunder.

I am truly sorry if it looks like I'm stealing a story and changing a few words around, it wasn't my intention at all, but when you find a good story, it's kinda hard not to borrow others ideas... that's what most stories are though, others ideas that have been altered in one way or another.

Jeez that was long... sorry, thought I'd just clear that up...

Please fav/follow/comment, and don't forget to read rainthelingeringsentiment's story Return of a Titan

Yours Truly

Eldrid Ragnarok


	5. Apologies

_**A/N: **__I am sorry to inform you, my wonderful readers, that I am no longer writing fanfiction of any kind._

_Several factors have come into play to cause this, but the main one is that I am publishing my own novel by the end of the year._

_I am sorry if this hurts or destorys any of your dreams to see this story through to it's end, but alas it is to happen._

_Kind Regards_

_Eldrid Ragnarok_


	6. Rewriting

Hello all,

I am sorry for having been away for so long but I was dragged away into writing stories for someone else instead of for myself. Recently I find myself in a pickle because I haven't been able to find the motivation to write for my OCs so I figured it might be a good idea to rewrite this story due to some mistakes pointed out by reviewers.

If you, the reader, want me to rewrite this story then I will, including changes to correct the story slightly more and possibly expand on it a bit.

I'd also like to say that I will be posting the repaired and updated chapters on the following Tumblr:

Kind regards,

Anthony


	7. Chapter 7

Hi ya'll

Sorry about the looooong wait, but I've finally finished a new fanfiction and it's up on my Tumblr and is under the tags "#teen titans" and "#fanfiction". If you're interested in reading any of my original content, you can find all of it under "#gail writes".

I hope you enjoy!

Apologetically,  
Gail


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